Having sacked the five Ciudadanos councillors on Wednesday, that, together with the Partido Popular, formed the Orihuela coalition council, on Thursday mayor Emilio Bascuñana, has revealed how their roles will be re-distributed amongst the remaining members of his government.
Bascuñana himself retains the powers of Urbanism and Planning, Human Resources, Security and Education, while Víctor Valverde assumes Infrastructure, Services and Maintenance, Parks and Gardens, Water and Public Lighting.
Councillor Rafael Almagro adds Culture to his current role while Dámaso Aparicio assumes Youth and The Local Government Board is now formed by the Municipal Group of the Popular Party (Mayor and 8 councillors), while the spokesman for the Government will be Rafael Almagro.
The Mayor’s Offices have also been updated, with Rafael Almagro appointed Deputy Mayor, 2nd Deputy Mayor: Víctor Valverde, 3rd Deputy Mayor: Sabina-Goretti Galindo and 4th Deputy Mayor: Mariola Rocamora.
With the opposition motion to replace the mayor and his council scheduled for a vote at the next plenary meeting on 25 April with the leader of the PSOE, the councillors will hardly have any time at all to even meet their staff if, as expected, the vote of censure is carried with PSOR Councillor Carolina Gracia then becoming mayor.
If the change occurs, the municipal council of Orihuela will then be formed by councillors from the PSOE and Ciudadanos, with initially, the councillors from Cambiemos, who are also supporting the motion, but remaining in opposition.
The socialist group currently has six councillors and Ciudadanos has five. The support of Cambiemos, with three councillors, would be the key for the motion of censure to be passed, as they would then outnumber the PP with nine councillors and Vox with two.
